A failure is not always a mistake, it may

simply be the best one can do under the

circumstances. The real mistake is to stop
trying.

- B.F SKINNER





INTRODUCTION

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author,
inventor, and social philosopher.

Skinner was born at Pennsylvania to William and Grace Skinner in March 20,
1904

In 1936, Skinner married Yvonne Blue. The couple had two daughters, Julie and
Deborah (m. Buzan). He died of leukemia on August 18, 1990

Shaped American psychology for 30 years

He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from
1958 until his retirement in 1974.


EDUCATION
Skinner received a PhD from Harvard in 1931, and remained there as a
researcher until 1936.

He then taught at the University of Minnesota and later at Indiana
University, where he was chair of the psychology department from
19461947.

He was a firm believer of the idea that human free will was actually an
illusion and any human action was the result of the consequences of
that same action.

FACTS
A controversial figure, Skinner has been depicted in many different
ways. He has been called evil, hateful, but also warm and enthusiastic.

A few days before Skinner died, he was given a lifetime achievement
award by the American Psychological Association and delivered a 15
minute address concerning his work.

In fact, his personality seems to have been quite similar to that of other
creative scientistshighly conscientious and open to experience, but
also somewhat neurotic.


"A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do
under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.

"Some of us learn control, more or less by accident. The rest of us go all
our lives not even understanding how it is possible, and blaming our failure
on being born the wrong way.



"Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.


A fourth-grade reader may be a sixth-grade mathematician. The grade is
an administrative device which does violence to the nature of the
developmental process.


Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been
forgotten.






















QU O T E S
Walden Two is a utopian novel
written by behavioral psychologist B.
F. Skinner, first published in 1948.
It is a science-based methods for
altering people's behavior did not yet
exist.

Such methods are now known
as
applied behavior analysis

Walden Two embraces the proposition
that the behavior of organisms,
including humans, is determined by
genetic and environmental variables ,
and that systematically altering
environmental variables can generate a
socio-cultural system that very closely
approximates utopia .


WALDEN TWO - BY B.F SKINNER

1966- Edward Lee Thorndike Award, American Psychological Association

1968 - National Medal of Science from President Lyndon B. Johnson

1971 - Gold Medal of the American Psychological Foundation

1972 - Human of the Year Award

1990 - Citation for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology


AWARDS
B.F. Skinner- Major Works
Theories: 1) Operant conditioning.
2) Schedules of Reinforcement.

Inventions: 1) Air crib.
2) Teaching machine.
3) Pigeon-guided missile.
4) Verbal Summator.

Books: 1) The behaviour of organisms.
2) Beyond Freedom and Dignity.
3) Verbal Behaviour.
4) Walden two


Introduction to Operant
Conditioning - An Overview



The term operant conditioning refers to the process by which the
consequences of an action affect the likelihood that the action will
occur again.

that is, it refers to one of the processes by which experience alters
subsequent behavior.

Consequences may make behavior more likely to occur in the
future (reinforcement), or less likely in the future (punishment).
Classical conditioning Vs Operant
conditioning
Classical conditioning (also Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning) is a
form of learning in which the conditioned stimulus or CS, comes to signal the occurrence
of a second stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus or US.
(A stimulus is a factor that causes a response in an organism)
Operant conditioning (or Radical Behaviorism) is a type of learning in which an
individual's behavior is modified by its consequences
Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning in that operant
conditioning deals with the modification of "voluntary behavior" or operant behavior.
Operant behavior operates on the environment and is maintained by its consequences,
while classical conditioning deals with the conditioning of reflexive behaviors

Skinner believed that the best way to understand behavior
is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences.
He called this approach operant conditioning.

Skinner's theory of operant conditioning was based on the
work of Thorndike (1905). Edward Thorndike studied
learning in animals using a puzzle box to propose the
theory known as the 'Law of Effect'.

OPERANT
CONDITIONING (COUNT)
Thorndike's law of effect
Edward L. Thorndike (18741949), who observed the
behavior of cats trying to escape from home-made
puzzle boxes.
In his law of effect , Thorndike theorized that
behaviors followed by satisfying consequences tend to
be repeated and those that produce unpleasant
consequences are less likely to be repeated..
Thorndike produced the first known learning
curves through this procedure.
Skinner (1948) studied operant conditioning by
conducting experiments using animals which he placed
in a Skinner Box which was similar to Thorndikes
puzzle box.
Neutral operants: responses from the environment
that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a
behavior being repeated.

Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that
increase the probability of a behavior being repeated.
Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.

Punishers: Response from the environment that
decrease the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.
Punishment weakens behavior.




Diagram of operant conditioning
Reinforcement and Punishment
Applies to the actions and not the actors
Core tools of Operant Conditioning:
Reinforcement
(Rewarding)
Punishment
Escape Penalty
Reinforcement
Punishment
Positive
Negative
Extinction
Schedules of Reinforcement
Rules stating which instances of a behaviour will be
reinforced
Goal: To strengthen the behaviour and increase the
likelihood that it will occur again in the future

Depending on the situation


Two types of Schedules
Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
Continuous Reinforcement
Partial Reinforcement
Continuous Reinforcement
The desired behaviour is reinforced every single time it
occurs.
Best used during the initial stages of learning in order
to create a strong association between the behaviour
and the response.
Once the response if firmly attached, reinforcement is
usually switched to a partial reinforcement schedule.
Partial Reinforcement
The response is reinforced only part of the time.
Four schedules of Partial Reinforcement
Schedule
Fixed-ratio
Schedule
Variable-ratio
Schedule
Fixed-interval
Schedule
Variable-
interval
Schedule



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